Whole Foods Not Coming?!?

But I was just getting excited about it!!!
Lord & Taylor withdraws its application
By Monica Potts, Stamford Advocate 05/09/2008

STAMFORD - An application for expansion of the Lord & Taylor store at its Bulls Head site, a plan that included a Whole Foods and other retail stores, was withdrawn last week.

National Realty Development Corp., the site's developer and owner of the Lord & Taylor department store chain, had requested a 60-day application extension from the Zoning Board in March.

Representatives from the company and their lawyers did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

"We can't tell you what happens next," Land Use Bureau Chief Robin Stein said.

Any new proposal would have to go through another application process, including new public hearings, he said.

The new building, at about 300,000 square feet, would have been roughly double the size of the existing store and was to include a 190,000 square-foot Lord & Taylor, a 60,000 square-foot Whole Foods market along with 50,000 square feet of mixed retail.

The new plan also would have roughly doubled parking on the site to more than 1,200 spaces, split between a two-level deck on the lot's northern end and a five-level deck on the southern portion.

Proponents and detractors of the plan formed community groups, which passed out fliers and built Web sites. The last public hearings in January drew crowds of more than 100 to the Government Center's cafeteria.

Nearby residents and store owners objected to the plan, saying its scale was too big for the neighborhood and not pedestrian-friendly, the parking decks were unattractive, and the added traffic would be dangerous in their neighborhood and is counter to the city's traffic-calming initiatives.

Zoning Board members had echoed some of those concerns in comments at a public hearing in January.

Supporters had expressed interest in keeping the Lord & Taylor store and bringing a Whole Foods to Stamford.

The city's economic director, Michael Freimuth, spoke in favor of the plan at a November public hearing. He said Stamford had been losing retail business to other communities.

"Money is leaving the community," he said. "It's critical that we hit the refresh button."

Many residents who spoke at hearings expressed concern about what would be built at the site, which is at the intersection of High Ridge and Long Ridge Roads, if the proposal was not approved.

The proposal faced its first challenge when the Planning Board voted in November not to recommend for Zoning Board approval the two zoning code changes related to the application.

The board expressed concern that the two changes - allowing the developer to build a bigger garage than allowed without adding a "green" roof and use more commercial space than allowed, would set an undesirable precedent.

The plan was later modified, and an environmentally friendly roof was added over the main building.

The developer also launched a public relations effort in response to some criticisms, sending brochures to city residents that included postcards supporters could send in.

Stein had referred to the plans as overly dependent on cars and not pedestrian friendly during the November meeting, perhaps a sign of things to come.

"It's probably not a model of smart growth," he had said at that meeting. "I describe this more 20th- than 21st-century planning."